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Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Marelle Balaskas Christine Earle

Marelle Balaskas 1995
Occupation: Past Life Regressionist

Past life regressionist Marelle Balaskas was hired by Ren Gottlieb, who wanted to try and understand why her life was such a mess, by looking at her past. Lucy Robinson also got in on the act, but she took the whole thing far less seriously. When Marelle arrived, she told Ren to get rid of the incense, and warned her that this was a very serious matter and the two girls would have to take it seriously. Marelle then began with Lucy, who found out that her past lives had included a scandalous actress who’d been beheaded during the French revolution, a warrior in Vietnam and a woman entombed in Ancient Egypt. Marelle warned Lucy that her past lives indicated that she only lived for the moment, without considering the consequences. Ren then had her session, during which Lucy fell asleep, and she learnt that she had been a wet nurse, a street sweeper and a slave in Africa, repeating a pattern of subservience throughout all of her lives. This made Ren realise that she was still making herself unhappy to please those around her, and her life would have to change.

Some months later, confused about some strange dreams and her relationship with housemate Luke Handley, Ren got in contact with Marelle again. Ren's deeply religious brother Mark disapproved of the woman, but Ren persevered and Marelle encouraged her to cut off her ties with Luke, as her psyche was warning her away from him. Ren risked her relationship with Luke by listening to Marelle, but it wasn't until the following week, when Marelle tried to convince Ren to pay to go on a spiritual retreat, that Ren realised she was being conned and set about repairing things with Luke.

Notes: Christine Earle previously played a policewoman in 1985, who almost arrested Peter Kirk when Julie Robinson thought he was casing the bank where she worked - in fact, he wanted to ask her out. She returned in 2001 as social worker Linda O'Donahue.

Biography by Steve